TE Mortgage owner admits to skipping tax returns

A local business owner pleaded guilty Monday to failing to file federal tax returns on nearly $900,000 in gross income.

Terry Edward Elliott, 54, of Nixa, entered a guilty plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge James C. England for three counts of willfully failing to file federal tax returns, according to a news release from John Wood, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri. Elliott admitted to earning $887,451 in gross income from 2002 to 2004 and failing to make an income tax return for each of those years.

Elliott owned T.E. Mortgage Group and TE Mortgage Services, according to the release. In 2005, Attorney General Jay Nixon issued a restraining order against Elliott and TE Mortgage Corp., 1540 W. Battlefield Road, for alleged violations of the state's No Call list. The Secretary of State filed an administrative dissolution or revocation order against the company a year later for failing to file a current annual report, according to SOS filings. TE Mortgage Services Corp., meanwhile, remains in good standing with the SOS but received a written notice in November for a past-due annual report.

A phone number listed for TE Mortgage was disconnected.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Mohlhenrich and investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation.